Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Phaeton (alternatively Phaethon / ˈ f eɪ. ə θ ən / or Phaëton / ˈ f eɪ. ə t ən /; from Ancient Greek: Φαέθων, romanized: Phaéthōn, pronounced [pʰa.é.tʰɔːn]) is a hypothetical planet hypothesized by the Titius–Bode law to have existed between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the destruction of which supposedly led to the formation of the asteroid belt (including the ...
The total mass of the asteroid belt is significantly less than Pluto's, and roughly twice that of Pluto's moon Charon. The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars.
Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, was once categorized as a planet. In the history of astronomy, a handful of Solar System bodies other than Jupiter have been counted as the fifth planet from the Sun. Various hypotheses have also postulated the former existence of a fifth planet, now destroyed, to explain various ...
The asteroid and comet belts orbit the Sun from the inner rocky planets into outer parts of the Solar System, interstellar space. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] An astronomical unit , or AU, is the distance from Earth to the Sun, which is approximately 150 billion meters (93 million miles). [ 19 ]
The Kuiper belt is approx. 100 times more massive than the asteroid belt and is part of the trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). [147] [148] The other part of TNOs is the scattered disk with objects having orbits in the scattering zone of Neptune. At high eccentricities (or high inclinations) the scattering zones of neighboring planets overlap.
Below are the descriptions of the three largest bodies in the asteroid belt. They are all considered to be relatively intact protoplanets, a precursor stage before becoming a fully-formed planet (see List of exceptional asteroids): [143] [144] [145] Ceres (2.55–2.98 AU) is the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt. [146]
A small asteroid will be pulled into orbit around the Earth as a “mini-moon” later this month before the space rock departs into other parts of the solar system.. The 10m-wide asteroid, dubbed ...
Image of the main asteroid belt and the Trojan asteroids. The asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. It is made of thousands of rocky planetesimals from 1,000 kilometres (621 mi) to a few meters across. These are thought to be debris of the formation of the Solar System that could not form a planet due to Jupiter's gravity.